Respect your Audience - Bollywood VS Hollywood

Hello people, how we doing, ...Yes yes I know, its been like 6 months since I wrote my last Blog. I swear I always have these wonderful intentions of getting down to it but sometimes it doesn't materialise, I used to say S*** happens and then you lose track and need motivation. Anyways below is an account of random thoughts not in any particular order cos hey after all mind works in a funny way, so forgive me if I rumble but home truths can be rumbling :) sooooooo

I was in HMV in oxford street after filming one day and came across a DVD of a film which I thought for some bizarre reason was NOT released in UK cinemas. The film is called The son of no one and stars Channing Tatum, Al Pacino and Juliette Binoche. A list stars in a Hollywood film with a good director at helm and went straight to DVD, why on earth will that happen, well answer lies in respect. Before I go any further, here is a quick trailer of the film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5v7F6FMw18

So Basically Hollywood executives are super smart when it comes to marketing, hence all the small films with unknowns does wonders at the Box office as they believe content is KING and also audience likes something different. Hence they spend millions marketing a film after " TEST SCREENINGS", that's a word BOLLYWOOD does not believe in cos if they ever did, I don't think any film will open well unless it was a GOOD film (no pun intended)

So back to the previous point,  a film staring Al Pacino and Channing Tatum has blockbuster written all over it but the audience response to test screenings was awful which meant studios cut their losses and syndication was done via satellite , VOD and DVDs. I swear Bollywood will never do that to a film starring for example Amitabh Bachchan and Imran Khan (Equivalent of above) cos it doesn't matter to them if film is well made or not, its all about business and selling, quite frankly I don't blame them, WE as an audience are to be blamed cos no matter what comes of the industry, we are so starved that we will go week after week to watch a film. Weeks after weeks, months after months have cemented the fact that we don't care about the stories etc, we want big star films and that's the way it is. Nothing wrong with that. I mean occasionally we have a vicky donor, paan singh tomar and even a kahani but there are a 100 films which are thrown at us every year and we go out in full force without knowing the content because we are a star driven industry.  

Question is will a Bollywood studio or producer accept the fact that he has made a bad film and not release with blazing guns, NO he won't cos he believes in you guys to make it a success regardless of how bad it is, That's the only thing he is super sure about, food for thought, Now you have to realise when a film like paranormal activity or the artist do well, as TEST SCREENING showed them that they had a HIT on their hand and an Al Pacino film went straight to DVD cos they cut their losses and didn't wanna get a bad name in the market. BOOM

I've heard people speak like this, hey I am off to the cinema to watch XYZ, oh yeah I know Ive heard its terrible but nothing else to watch and so I am gonna watch it , HELLO you are not helping the cause and only encouraging the bad film ...like WTF

Hollywood actors on other hand love a challenge which means someone like Leonardo DiCaprio playing a gay character, a mean antagonist all in the same year cos he wants to be driven by something new, something exciting. He doesn't care to play it safe cos he believes he will miss out in life if he doesn't challenge himself as an actor but purely he believes the audience will respect him all sorts.

These are some random thoughts a DVD in HMV brought out in me and made me analyse the market. Will a Bollywood ever release a film like Teri Meri Kahani on DVD because reports are NOT great (Ps I am not saying that they are , just in case someone gets a sad face). Also check the trailer of the original film Three Times ;) Apparently that's the original version of Teri Meri Kahani

Check this out , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfqmjfYR8SE&feature=related

Anyway apart from all that, I am taking 7 Welcome to London to Cannes film festival. It will be a blast and I am really looking forward to the Sun and catching up with Industry friends, Also I am super duper excited about my new show on ZING "ROCK THE VIBE" 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEABX3su6Fo

It will be kick ass and has loads of daily topics such as one of the daily topics is live in relationships or arrange marriage vs love marriage, is it acceptable for Asians in UK (who are running 20 years behind a metro city like Mumbai ), and guess what it will also give an opportunity to the fantastic UK Urban Asian musicians to showcase their talent via music videos etc. I can't wait 

Alright peeps, time to head to my gym and pump those babies

ciao bros and Bella's

Asad xxx

P.S ROCK THE VIBE starts on SKY789 ZING from 21st May 2012 .... Every day Mon-Fri at 4.30pm